November 2014 Daring Bakers Challenge: Paris-Brest

The November Daring Baker’s challenge took us for a ride! Luisa from Rise of the Sourdough Preacher challenged us to make Paris-Brest, a beautiful pastry celebrating the Paris-Brest bicycle race. 

This was for me a great challenge as I always enjoy making choux pastry and everything that has to do with it. It seems though that I have to post late once more as my computer decided not to work lately.

The Daring Bakers October 2014: Sachertorte

The October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Korena of Korena in the Kitchen. She took us to Austria and introduced us to the wonders of the Sachertorte.

Sachertorte is one of my favourite cakes. I discovered a recipe when I was a teenager and I made it a lot of times. I hadn't made it for a lot of years and this challenge travelled me a little back to time.I really enjoyed making it and I didn't face any problems and I really enjoyed tasting it again. It is really a chocolate cake with marmalade, covered with chocolate but I don't know what is that something that it has, that makes me like it so much. The only thing I did differently from the original recipe is that instead of a chocolate glaze, I used a chocolate ganache which I am sure that it never disappoints me and because I wanted a softer texture on the top. So, here is the recipe and on the link you will find the original recipe given along with some history of the Sachertorte.

Apple crumble bars

After a long pause, here I come back with those delicious apple crumble bars. It was a very busy summer, been very busy with work but now I hope everything will be a little more quiet. Still stressful but baking takes a lot of it away and I enjoy to do it now that it is getting cold again.The fall is officially here and the apple season at its finest, so what is better than a warm piece of apple pie? This recipe is adapted from Donna Hay's strawberry bars but the dough would work with a lot of different fruit depending on the season. I have also tried it with peach and it was also delicious. So, here is the recipe: 

May 2014 Daring Bakers challenge: PÃO DE QUEIJO

This month's Daring Bakers' Challenge took us on a trip to beautiful Brazil! Renata of "Testado, Provado & Aprovado!" taught us how to make Pao De Queijo, tasty cheese buns that make the perfect snack or treat, and that will make your taste buds samba!

I am posting this challenge very late but better late than ever. I have been very busy lately with work so , I haven't had time to concentrate and bake something. These little ”cheese breads” were very very easy to make and after I made them I was wondering why it took so long for e to make them.

Anyway, the recipe I chose was the fake pao de queijo, since it's impossible to find tapioca starch here in Sweden or at least I haven't found anywhere. These ones are made with potato starch, something very easy to find here, they are very tasty and ridiculously easy and fast to make. If you want to try and make them I would advise you to make at least the double amount, since it yielded only 9 small cheese balls to me. You can also take them to a next a level and fill them with extra cheese or cheese and ham, I think I will try this next time I make them. I used parmesan cheese and they had a very nice taste and they were as salty as needed going great with the chicken soup we ate them with. So, here is the recipe, it is the one provided from the Daring Bakers challenge host. If you want to try the real ones with tapioca you can also find them to the Daring Bakers site.

Two-tier Fraisier cake

Last month I had my birthday! We had a birthday party for me and my boyfriend's best friend since our birthdays are close. So, I made 2 birthday cakes! For me this year, I made a 2 tier-fraisier cake, a French cake consisting of a genoise sponge, créme patisiére, strawberries and a marzipan disc on the top. I always wanted to try and make it, it looks so nice and it is made with two of my favourite things: strawberries and vanilla cream. It was not as difficult as I thought to make. You just need to be concentrated and careful.Well, the sponge for me is always a challenge because you never know if it will rise or not. You need to be very careful, because if you lose a lot of air it will never rise.However, it is really fun to make and really tasty! And in the end you have a really pretty cake!

 I also made a snickers cake, so that we have something with chocolate too. The recipe for the snickers cake is coming soon.

As I mentioned before I made a 2-tier cake. The recipe for the sponge is for 1 cake. I made 2 sponges and cut 2 10 cm circles from the second sponge. The cream, syrup and strawberries are enough for both. If you want to make one cake use the two thirds of the recipe. But since my second cake was pretty small, if you want a cake full of cream and strawberries use it all and you can have very little left. So, this is the recipe for the fraisier:

April 2014 Daring Bakers challenge: Easterbreads-Tsoureki

The April Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Wolf of Wolf’s Den . She challenged us to Spring into our kitchens and make Easter breads reflecting cultures around the world.

So, I'm finally able to post this recipe since my computer fell down last week and didn't work properly.

My Easter bread is called tsoureki. It is a brioche-like bread consumed on Easter in Greece, it exists on every bakery in Greece, decorated with a dyed egg on the top. Well, we don't only eat it on Easter but we also eat it at Christmas, with a Christmas decoration and you can also eat it whenever you want, as it is, or with marmalade, nutella or whatever you like on it, as a special breakfast or along with your coffee or tea.

The main spices are mahlepi (mahlab) and mastic but some people put vanilla and cardamom instead. The traditional one though, is with mastic and mahlepi which give it a unique aroma. The most important thing about this recipe, and well, every tsoureki recipe, is to use strong flour or else you will not have this special texture, but it will feel more like common bread. 
 It would also be better, if you use a stand mixer for this one, as it needs about 20 minutes kneading. It would be pretty impossible to knead by hand and very tiring with a hand mixer. Also, if you don't have the spices as they are not that easy to find outside Greece, you can use vanilla or cardamom or both. The recipe is once more from Stelios Parliaros, the ultimate pastry chef in Greece. Here it is:

Easter in Greece- Nutella and wafers filled Easter chocolate eggs

Warning: This is a loong post!

This year, I spent Easter in Greece, in Athens. Maybe it was not in a village, where you really feel Easter, but trust me, anywhere in Greece you can feel Easter, as it is maybe the most important holiday. In Greece, Easter doesn't last only for a day, but in order to celebrate Easter Sunday you have to go through the Great Lent,Palm Sunday, Holy week and then there is Easter and Easter week. On Palm Sunday, people go to the church where they get palm tree branches. Afterwards, the tradition is to eat fried cod, it is the one of the two times in the Great Lent that you are allowed to eat fish.

Monday to Saturday before Easter, is called Holy Week. The most important ones are on Wednesday, with the blessing of Holy oil and the Last Supper. Then, Maundy Thursday is when Jesus was crucified. This is happening to the church but you know, with a fake wooden one. During the night, some people stay, mostly